Does the local police force reflect the racial makeup of your community? According to an interactive chart created by the Washington Post today — following this week’s protests over the police killing of an unarmed black teenager in the largely black community of Ferguson, Missouri — the answer is probably not.

Police officers wearing gas masks place the lights of a television news crew on the ground, shortly after the journalists fled a smoking cannister in Ferguson, Missouri, August 13, 2014. President Barack Obama on Thursday said that police should respect protesters after four nights of racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, over the recent police killing of an unarmed black teenager. Two reporters were among the arrests on Wednesday night during the fourth night of protests. Obama said "here in the United States of America police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs." REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement Thursday following his meeting earlier today with President Obama to discuss the latest developments in Ferguson, Missouri:

“This morning, I met with President Obama to discuss the events in Ferguson, Missouri. Like the President, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of Michael Brown. While his death has understandably caused heartache within the community, it is clear that the scenes playing out in the streets of Ferguson over the last several nights cannot continue.

“For one thing, while the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, acts of violence by members of the public cannot be condoned. Looting and willful efforts to antagonize law enforcement officers who are genuinely trying to protect the public do nothing to remember the young man who has died. Such conduct is unacceptable and must be unequivocally condemned.

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday called for peace on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer and urged authorities to be transparent in their investigation.

"Now is the time for healing. Now is the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson," Obama told reporters on Martha's Vineyard, where he is vacationing with his family.

"Now is the time for an open and transparent process to see that justice is done," Obama said.

He said he had asked the attorney general and U.S. attorney on the scene to report back to him in the coming days about the process.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Edgartown and Mark Felsenthal in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)

(Reuters) - Missouri governor Jay Nixon on Thursday called for an end to a series of sometimes-violent clashes between St. Louis-area police and people protesting the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager last weekend.

"We will not get the healing that we all need if the response from the public is y'all just be quiet," Nixon said televised remarks. "There has been a fear to hear."

The police have been heavily criticized for using what some are saying undue force in trying to quell the protests. Nixon said he will be making "some shifts so that folks will be feeling safe."

The photographs and videos of police trying to calm the rioting in Ferguson, Mo., look like a war zone. There’s the black-clad special-ops cops, backed by armored tactical vehicles that wouldn’t look out of place on a battlefield. The police are doing their best to restore order following Saturday’s police killing of unarmed Michael Brown, 18. But their tools and tactics have grabbed the attention of some of the nation’s real soldiers dispatched to fight its post-9/11 wars.

(Reuters) - Authorities in Missouri on Thursday stood by their earlier decision to withhold the name of the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, but denied he was the person identified online by a hacker activist.

Demonstrators and the family of the victim, 18-year-old Michael Brown, have called on police to release the name of the officer, but officials have refused to do so, citing security concerns.

Among the concerns, they said, are online threats from the hacker group Anonymous, which has said it would release personal information about the police officer involved and on Thursday identified him by name in a Twitter post.

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